long. >> julie: the opening of the $20 billion building comes at a time of serious economic uncertainty in dubai with the city state facing billions in debt. pretty amazing stuff. >> kelly: fun looking building. >> julie: see you in an hour on >> chris: i'm chris wallace. the u.s. closes its embassy in yemen. that story next on "fox news sunday." the obama administration tries to plug the holes in the security system that allowed a would-be bomber onboard a us airliner. with americans asking are we safe, what can be done to prevent future attacks? we will get the latest from john brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and kit bond. plus our sunday panel looks ahead to the new year in politics, the economy, sports and entertainment. all right now on "fox news sunday."

>> chris: hello again and happy new year from fox news in washington. citing ongoing threats, the u.s. government today closed its embassy in yemen. meanwhile, the president and top advisors are reviewing what mr. obama calls the systemic failures that allow a would-be bomber onboard that plane christmas day. we are joined by the white house official leading that review. john brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter terrorism. welcome to "fox news sunday." >> as we said the u.s. today closed our embassy in yemen. why? >> there are indications that al-qaeda in the peninsula is targeting our embassy and our personnel and we are not going to take any chances with the lives of our diplomats and others at the embassy. we made a decision and i spoke with the ambassadors last night and again this morning to make sure that we are doing everything possible to protect our diplomats there. we are working closely with the

yemenis and they are providing support but we are not going to take any chances. >> chris: did you have intelligence that they might try to explode a bomb or attack the embassy? >> they have been trying to carry out such attacks. in november of 2008 they carried out such an attack against the embassy. we know there are a number of al-qaeda operatives determined to carry out the attacks and we are not going let that happen and if we have to close the embassy to ensure that we have the opt mall security we doll that. >> chris: are u.s. citizens in yemen in danger? >> u.s. citizens are notified when such activity takes place. we are doing everything possible to make sure that all u.s. citizens and westerners and the yemenis themselves are protected. >> chris: to press my question, are u.s. citizens in that country at risk, are they in

danger? >> until the yemeni government gets the situation with al-qaeda, there are threats. we worked with the yemen any government closely since the first day of the administration. i have been out to yemen twice. they have been good and cooperative and we are determined to press this effort. >> chris: let me wide then discussion? that sense. as you point out obviously were you in yemen earlier but general petraeus the head of central command was in yes penn yesterday.ecteyemen the british will be mounting a new antiterror, counter terror police force. fair to say we are opening up a second front in the war on terror outside the afghanistan pakistan theaterrer in yemen? >> this is an effort we had

underway since the beginning of the administration. david petraeus has been out to yemen several times. we continue to have a close and ongoing dialogue with the yemeni government. we has close consult 86s with the british and i spoke with the british about the types of things we can do together in support of the yemeni government. we are not going let al-qaeda make gains in yemen because we need to take whatever steps nose protect citizen there's as well as abroad. >> chris: could that mean u.s. troops on the ground in yemen? >> the yemeni government has demonstrated their willingness to take the fight to al-qaeda and they are willing to accept our support and we are providing them everything that they asked for and they made some real progress. over the past month, al-qaeda has taken a number of hits and a number of al-qaeda leaders in yemen are no longer with us because of this pressured and

determined action. >> chris: president obama talked for the first time about abdulmutallab's links to known terrorists. >> it appears he joined an affiliate of al-qaeda and of this group that trained him and equipped him with explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for america. >> chris: what do we now know about abdulmutallab's links to al-qaeda and what their role was in the christmas day attempted terror attack? and how seriously do you take claims from abdulmutallab and claims from yemen that there are dozens more jihadis weeing trained to attack the u.s.? >> as we have been able to piece together the story about mr. abdul billiomutallab it isr that he was in yemen and he reached out to al-qaeda. he received training. in fact, training at one of the camps that was hit during the month of december.

he was clearly directed to carry out this attack at the direction of al-qaeda. the senior leadership there. there is something that we are very concerned about. we are concernd that they may be in fact trying to get other operatives, nonyemenis and others to train inside of yemen to send to the west and that is why we need to maintain the pressure on al-qaeda within yemen. >> chris: do we believe that as abdulmutallab has claimd that there are dozens more already trained to attack the u.s.? do we have specific information about a credible threat of that? >> we have good intelligence that al-qaeda is training individuals in yemen. we are pulling the threads on a number of reports to make sure that we stay on top of it and we are doing everything possible to scour all the intelligence to see if there is another abdulmutallab out there. >> chris: do we have specific information that there is another abdulmutallab out

there? >> we know people have been trained in the camps but it is much more difficult to get on a plane today than it was on christmas day. >> chris: several guantanamo detainees released it should be pointed out by the bush administration ended up in important roles in al-qaeda in yemen. the white house says it has no plans to holdous transfers of detainees to yemen and it will decide those on a case-by-case basis. is that true that we have not decided to halt all detainee transfers to yemen and if it so, why wouldn't we at this point given the instability there decide not to sendmy yemeni detainees back to that country? >> we have to put this in context. during the last administration. 532 detainees were transferred from guantanamo. during this administration we have transferred 42. seven have gone back to yemen. first one went about six or eight weeks ago and six went in

december. we had close dialogue with the yemeni government about the expectations that we have as far as what they are supposed to do when the detainees go back. several were put into yemeni custody right away and we are continuing to talk to them. we are trying to do this in a measured fashion. the guantanamo facility must be closed. it served as a propaganda tool for al-qaeda, we are determined to close it. we are not going to do anything that puts american security at risk. working closely with the yemeni government we are looking at the other detainees from guantanamo in yemen but we are going to take the right steps and not do anything to put americans at risk. >> chris: but you will send more yemenis back to yemen? >> absolutely. we are working closely with the yemeni government and ensure that the security measures are put in place as we address the security situation on the ground. >> chris: perhaps the most controversial step that president obama took after the christmas day terror attack was to charge abdulmutallab as a

criminal defendant. he was cooperating with authorities. he is giving information about his links to al-qaeda but after he got a criminal lawyer he reportedly stopped cooperating, stopped talking. why not treat him as an enemy combatant, put him in a secret prison and use the interrogation techniques that president obama has specifically approved and try to get more information out of him? >> we have an array of tool thraws we will use and we want to make sure that we maintain flexibility as far as how we deal with these individuals. let's get the facts on the table. he was arrested and on u.s. soil on a plane in detroit airport. he was in fact talking to people who were detaining him. there were people who were arrested during the previous administration richard reid the shoe boomer, zacarias moussaoui, others all were charged and tried in criminal court and sentenced some cases to life imprisonment.

just because somebody is going be put into the criminal legal process does not mean that we don't have other opportunities to get information from them. >> chris: let me ask you specifically. after abdulmutallab not lawyered up did he stop cooperating with authorities and stop talking? >> i will not address what he did before or after he talked with his lawyer. we got information and we continue to have opportunities to do that. as you talk with the lawyers and you talk with the individuals as they recognize what they are facing as far as the charges, conviction and possible sentence there are opportunities to continue to talk about it. fbi has some of the best interrogators and debriefers in the world and so i'm confident that we will continue to be able to work the system and see whether or not. >> chris: once he gets his mir ran a dmiranda rights he doesne to speak at all. >> but there are ways he can do that. >> chris: why not treat him, you have the right, still have the right to treat him as an enemy combatant.

why not do that? if he has more actionable intelligence about future attacks and you say there is a possibility of that, doesn't the president have a responsibility to do everything legal he can to get that information? >> and the department of justice makes the determinations about what is the best tool to use and in this instance we felt it was the best way to address mr. abdulmutallab's case and we will continue to look at the cases individually and proceed accordingly. >> chris: what is the downside of treating him as an enemy combatant. >> there are no down sides or upsides in particular cases. we are trying to make sure we apply the right tool in the right instance. we made the determination he should be tried in the u.s. criminal court. >> chris: you are leading the review as we pointed out at the beginning of what the president calls the human and systemic failures that led to abdulmutallab being on that plane on christmas day and in tell denintelligent screening.

what was the failure? >> there are a combination of issues we are looking at. the president is determined to make sure that we identify what the problems were and take corrective actions immediately. whether or not they are individual cases or more systemic issues that we have to address. i think it is a combination of things. we had information that came from mr. abdulmutallab's father and his name was put into the system. we have snippets of intelligence that came in that didn't refer specifically to umar farouk abdulmutallab. we need to in is system make sure we put those together to take every step to prevent these individuals from getting on the planes. >> chris: if you can characterize with without going into the details. was it that there was a smoking gun that was ignores? was there bits andpieces of information and the puzzle wasn't put together? was there continued rivalry among the various intelligence

agencies? >> there was no smoking gun or piece of information that said this guy is a terrorist and is going to get on a plane. there was the failure to piece together the bits and pieces of information. it is different than before 9/11. there was a culture then of keeping information to the individual agencies and diplomats. there is no agency or department that was not trying to share information. there were some lapses and errors in the system. if a man comes into one agency the information needs to get some where else to the actions can be taken. >> chris: the president insisted this week that people will be held responsible for their failure. let's take a look. >> it is also my job to ensure

that our in tell tell against law enforcement and homeland security systems and the people in them are working effectively and held accountable. i intend to fulfill that responsibility and insist on accountability at every level. >> chris: let me pursue this question about accountability. does the president have full confidence in homeland security secretary napolitano, in director of intelligence national intelligence blair and cia director panetta or is he reserving judgment on those three? >> i think we are fortunate to have people of the caliber of secretary napolitano, denney player and others in this government -- denney blair and others in the government. accountability should be at all levels. specifically as far as secretary napolitano is concerned i know she has taken hits this week as far as her comments about that the system worked. i think she clarified the comments and made it clear referring to how the system reacted after the incident.

i worked very closely with janet napolitano and we are fortunate to have somebody of her experience and caliber. she is a dedicated individual and i like to work with her. >> denny blair and panetta are also competent individuals. the. >> chris: it came out this week that the president's nominee for tsa chief head of transportation security erroll southers had to correct congressional testimony after he had give ten about his involvement a couple of decades ago in going through cremal records on a personal -- criminal matters on a personal matter. does the president still back his nomination? >> absolutely. erroll southers has tremendous experience. it is unfortunate that there is one senator who has a hold on

mr. southers and i think the issues have been looked at respeededly. senators are comfortable with it. >> chris: we have over a minute left. politics has reared its head in the discussion this week about the response to the christmas day attack. this week vice president cheney had this to say about president obama. here it is. ever your response? >> it is disappointing to me that either the vice president and others have willfully mischaracterized president obama's position and actions or they are just ignore rant of the facts. in either case it doesn't speak well to the reaps why they went out and said these thing is. i will came back into government for the express purpose of making sure that we

it can make this country safer than it has ever been in the past. the president is as determined as anybody that i have worked with. i'm neither a republican nor democrat. i worked for the previous five administrations and this president is determined and i think it is demonstrated in his language. he says that we are at war with al-qaeda. we are going to destroy al-qaeda the organization and dem mop straight through actions whether in -- demonstrate that al-qaeda might be able to run but they are not going to be able to hide. >> chris: and what do you think is the effect of the kind of political attacks we have seen in the last week? >> it made people lose sight of who the real enemy is here. al-qaeda has been response for the deaths of many americans. think back to 9/11 after this country came together and democrats and republicans said we have to make we top al-qaeda from carrying out its acts of terrorism and prevent killing

of innocent americans. >> didn't over the course of the years democrats take a lot of pot shots at the bush cheney administration national security policy? >> i think partisan politics should be put aside. it is a serious threat and continues to haunt us and we have to make sure that we stay focused on al-qaeda. that is what i'm going to do in this job. we need to continue to prosecute the war because al-qaeda the organization needs to be destroyed. >> chris: mr. brennan, thank you for coming in and giving us the latest information. please come back soon. >> thank you. >> chris: up next, reaction to the attempted attack and advice the attempted attack and advice abouououou charles needs those contracts tomorrow morning. we should send them overnight with fedex. i already sent them. i didn't use fedex. better cross your fingers. [ man ] oh, yeah, the accident. well, you better knock on wood. remember, we did a green renovation in here, there's no wood. but russ bought a rabbit's foot. 's a bear claw. you could throw salt over your shoulder.

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>> chris: joining us to continue our coverage of the response to the attempted christmas day massacre is kit bond, top republican on the senate intelligence commit, yes. welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> always a pleasure, chris. >> chris: you heard john brennan. your reaction to the decision to close the embassy in yes penn state respected. >> we didn't close the embassy in kabul or baghdad. now, i have not been briefed on any of the latest intelligence. but it seems to me if we going in there and going to work there ought to be one place where we have a platform from which the americans can work. again, i haven't seen all the classified information. i hope to do that the first of this coming week. >> chris: can you add anything to what mr. brennan said about the strength of al-qaeda in yemen and how serious the threat is of more terror attacks against the west coming from yemen.

in. >> i think there is no question that we have been watching yemen for sometime and this is where we see great dangers coming. and the fact it as the president admitted that the al-qaeda in the arab peninsula operating out of yemen has trained these terrorists. some of them gitmo graduates. and if we don't stop the practice of releasing gitmo detainees to yemen or other countries and some came through yemen from saudi arabia, we are asking more trouble. i think there ought to be an immediate halt to releases from gitmo. >> chris: let me ask you to pick up on that because as you heard mr. brennan say, even after the christmas day attempted massacre that the obama administration intends to continue transferring detainees from gitmo to yemen on a case-by-case basis. your reaction? >> i -- i am very disturbed by

that. everybody out to admit that the bush administration made a big mistake in transferring these detainees, these terrorists back to other countries. saudi arabia was supposed to have an excellent program of rehabilitation. 11 of their rehabilitation graduates have been captured or killed on the battlefield. and i have asked the director of national intelligence what is the scorecard for 2009? we knew through 2008 there were 61 gitmo guys that had gone back to terror. and they won't release it, we need to know. >> chris: even to you as the vice chair of the intelligence committee? >> i hope that i could get it but it should be declassified for the public. i understand it is a troubling report. i have not seen it. i hope to see it. more importantly, i think the american people need to see it. >> chris: is there anything, i know you and a number of other

senators and both parties feel strongly about releasing detainees to yemen or other countries. is there anything that congress can do to stop it? >> we were trying to stop bringing gitmo detainees to the united states but in the last bill that was passed the majority removed that constraint. we have 40 members of our party in the senate and a number of democrats who want to work with us. i hope that we might be able to do that. but i think the bush administration has been shown to have made a mistake. i hope the obama administration will learn from that and not continue to commit the same mistake. >> chris: let's talk about another i suspect you will say it as mistake. did you think it was a mistake to charge abdulmutallab as a criminal defendant? >> clearly. as you said in your interview as soon as he got a lawyer, he lawyered up. now, they may be able to negotiate over a period of months or years some kind of deal in which he gives them

some information but we have the ability or had the ability in the previous administration to interrogate detainees following the laws and the constitution, not torturing them, but getting information from them. and this man, abdulmutallab probably has more insight into possible other recruits that al-qaeda would be sending into the united states. and the day may be coming and we need to know from him or from others what he knows and who they are. we even brought in the pirate from somalia and put him in the civilian courts. we should have treated him as an enemy combatant because the pirates are feeding money to the al-qaeda in the arab peninsula. we need to treat them as enemy combatants and get information from them. >> chris: let's talk about that because you are suggesting and

mr. brennan certainly did that there is a real possibility that there are more jihaddist terrorists being framed right now in yemen to come to this country. how much harder is it going to be to get that information on a timely basis out of abdulmutallab with him as a criminal defendant rather than an enemy combatant? >> any criminal lawyer has to tell him he has to be quiet. he has to shut up until months from now and maybe years from now they come forth with a deal saying well, if you will tell us who your handlers were, who the other people were, we will limit your charges. we should have held him as an enemy combatant and tried him in the military commissions, the supreme court upheld that. we caught german saboteurs in the united states and tried them as combatants. >> chris: that was during world war ii. >> a supreme court case fourth circuit upheld and jose

padillas case. >> your senate intelligence committee announced you will hold hearings into the terrorist would be attacks as well as these alleged failures in our ability to prevent it starting on january 21st. in announcing the hearings and the investigation you said the following and let's put about up. somebody screwed up big time. senator, any thoughts about who screwed up? >> that is what we want to find out. t probably shouldn't have been plural. i didn't think at -- it probably should have been plural. there are probably a number of people who screwed up. how was the information shared. did the information get in. do we have adequate means of assisting in the national counter terrorist center. making sure that the -- that all the information relative to a single suspect or a single akron ittivity can be collated, can we get it out to the agency that needs it, we may need more

it, better information systems. but with all of the leads dangling out there, somebody screwed up on not reporting it and clearly the screening was a disaster. perhaps homeland securities. the president has repeat said that you heard with mr. brennan phrasing several top officials. put them on the screen and secretary napolitano and cia director panetta. question, have you lost confidence in any of those? >> denny blair has all of the responsibility and not enough authority. i voted against the bill because he does not have the

ability to control all of the elements of the ic. i don't -- i have not worked with secretary napolitano but when she said that the terrorist act should be called a man caused disaster or when she said that recently the system worked perfectly, i think it raised a lot of eyebrows but that -- those statements misstatements are certainly not grounds to relieve her. i think we need to find out what really happened. >> chris: finally, i want to talk with you as i did with mr. brennan about politics. former vice president cheney and a number of top republicans have really gone after this administration for its response after christmas day and suggested that this is another example of democrats being soft on terror. let's go through the record if we can. it took president bush six days to react to the shoe bomber richard reid. it was the bush administration that set up this terror watch system and several of the

guantanamo detainees as you pointed out honed up in yemen were released under president bush. don't republicans have plenty to answer for 12346789. >> i think that the bush administration really needs to answer for releasing the detainees to saudi arabia and other places and we have seen that is a mistake and i know that -- i'm sure they would admit that is a mistake. but to continue to make the same mistake would be a tragedy. and i really think that failing to recognize that we are under attack, the al-qaeda and its related activities, have declared war on us anded they are coming after us and this is not a case for a series of criminal trials. we tried that in the '90s after the first attack on the world trade center, embassy bombings, cole attack. this is war and it is time that we refe respond to the war atts that are coming at us.

>> chris: senator, thanks as always for coming in. >> thank you, sir. >> chris: up next, the sunday group looks at the policy and the politics of the christmas day terror attacks. [ male announcer ] let's talk about putting our best square foot forward. then let's do more than talk about it. let's turn picturing it into planning it, thinking it over into making it happen. let's say out with the old and in with the new. let's create some wall-to-wall "wow."

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our nation is at war against violence and hatred and we doll whatever it takes to defeat them and defend our country even as we uphold the values that distinguished america among nations chris president obama in his saturday media address leaving no doubt he still considers the u.s. to be a nation at war and it is time for the sunday regulars. brit hume, fox news senior political analyst and contributors nina easton of fortune magazine. bill kristol of the weekly standard and juan williams from national public radio.

the president declared this is a nation at war. he said it appears that this young nigerian abdulmutallab joined al-qaeda and he was trained equipped and directed by them to attack the u.s. given all of that, brit, what do you think of the debate and what do you make of the decision to charge him as a criminal defendant and not as an enemy combatant? >> i don't think it was a decision made with the idea in mind that this is the best way to get information out of him. that tells you something about this administration's priorities. the president spoke of doing whatever it takes and then he said consistent with our values. he is of the belief and it permiated his campaign rhetoric and much of what he has done as president that what we most need to do to deal with the situation in the world and terrorists is to have a better reputation in this country of being a kinder and gentler land consist went our values. this decision to charge him in the criminal court rather than

as an eni combatant reflects that. there is laxness across the board. i think it permeates to the administration and the approach that they are now saying we will continue to consider sending guantanamo bay detainees back to yemen. yemen. i mean if the one thing that we know out of this is what a hot bed that place is. why would you want to send anybody there. but there they are. >> the bottom line question of this and how you try this guy is about intelligence and what you can get. >> i don't think its. >> well, it is -- >> no, they are treating it as a law enforcement issue. >> they are. and in particular whether you would do it in a different way is to get more intelligence and the prospect of getting intelligence. to me it is not just a question of getting intelligence. we heard a lot about systemic failure. i would argue it is more of attitudal. we rearranged the system and we

now have a counter terrorism center and we now have a director of central intelligence. it wasn't a smoking gun as brennan said. but there was some intelligence that came and it was a question of what you do with it. this guy had a visa to enter the united states. a visa was granted to him in 2008 and the fundamental question is why wasn't that viva revoked. i think we need lower the threshold of the people who can get visas to get into the country but that means the world isn't going to like you. >> raise the thresh hold. >> that means the world isn't going to like you. again, with the obama vision, he wants the world to like us. there was a lot of heat against the bush administration where we started cracking down on visas and students and business people couldn't get in. you will take a lot of heat if you do that.

>> chris: is that as -- is that the issue that it is a choice between getting tough or doing things whether it is on decisions about guantanamo, decisions about criminal defendants, that may apeel to the rest of the world and the obama administration is coming down on one side of that? >> i'm not even sure it appeals to the rest of the world. i don't think they would be shocked if we treated him as an enemy combatant consistent with president obama's rules of interrogation. still try to interrogate him. mr. brennan said we are worried there are other abdulmutallabs out there. he might know who the others are. he might know their names. we let him lawyer up and right now he is probably thinking gee, maybe i could use that information to bargain with to get a reduced sentence. he talked about how we will work with his lawyers and we have incentives to offer him. this is operational intelligence in real time and we are not treating it as a war. when said there is no smoking gun.

this is the smoking gun. he is the smoking gun. his father comes and gives the cia station chief in africa his name. a month later he goes to yemen. he is in yemen with this cleric whom we are monitoring in yemen. he goes to an airport anding his own name and no disguise or alias and buys with cash a one way ticket to the u.s. >> no luggage. >> he is the smoking gun. and for mr. brennan to say no smoking gun, that shows the kind of not serious about the war mentality. and i would add one last thing. closing the embassy in yemen last night, i mean i don't, you know, no one wants the state department officials put at risk. but that is a sign of weakness. closing the embassy. we can't protect our embassy in yemen? a place we say we are working with the government on the frontlines on the war on terror and there is a terror lit and we close the embassy? that is a victory for al-qaeda.

this last week has been a victory for al-qaeda. >> i disagree. i don't think there was in i smoking gun. what mr. brennan was talking about was a specific failure where you can say here is the moment where there was such derogatory information that said we definitely want to crack down on this individual. well, you know, the father went to the embassy and the father did complain and we had this knowledge. it wasn't officially communicated but is there some specific standard that was not held to. i don't think so. and then with regard to what britt was saying, i recall that richard reid was tried by the bush administration in criminal court. he was allowed. i don't see that there is any change between a conservative republican administration and a more liberal. >> chris: that was in.

>> that was in december of 2001. richard reid didn't know anything. this guy was dealing. >> chris: we don't know that richard reid didn't know anything. >> and may have been a mistake to try him in the criminal court. as with moussaoui. >> i think it is an excellent american standard. talk about just wanting to make people like us. no, no, no, look, i was wrong last week when i said on the program that i thought that he was acting independently. i thought there were lots of people who thought, it was not only u.s., it was british intelligence and others around the world who didn't pick this up. a mistake was made and should have been communicated but to somehow suggest that is now reason for us to act in a more draconian manner and give the idea that we want to stop is the spread of antiamerican sentiment in the world and it is a matter of dressing up and being nice to people and greeting the guests, that is not right. it is about trying to stop the

threat of terrorism are to these individuals like this guy abdulmutallab and the guy at fort hood who picked this up over the internet and think they are being antiamerican in attacking the mosques. we are acting in our best interests and intelligently. >> chris: are you persuaded by mr. williams' argument? >> that would be a no. we keep talking about this failed attack. this failed attempt. it sort of didn't succeed on the scale on which it was intended. it set in moisture all kinds of security procedures for several days which made no sense, by the way at u.s. airports. certainly we would not be closing the embassy in yemen in the absence of these events. if a month ago it was a hot bed, it as hot bed today. if i were the al-qaeda people i would think bill is right. this was an attack that didn't succeed on the scale it was expected to but did succeed.

>> chris: we have to s s s s#ñ

>> chris: and we are back now with the panel. and they are and their fearless predictions for 2010 guided by the philosophy, often in error, never in doubt. to poll tigs and britt, get us started. >> i -- and politics. britt get us started. >> confronts the administration with a difficult choice and continues in this let's make, let's be nice and let's be true to our values and make the world like us better approach. we will have more trouble. the other option, of course, is to act more like the bush administration acted and take the more war like approach which i think is unpal lattable

as well. it is a difficult choice and there is no easy answer for the administration. >> politics? >> the 2010 election will be a nail biter and the democrat letts succeed at holding on to the house barely. but we will see the loss of stallworth and boxer and reid and it will make the house nervous enough that it will move to the center as as it campaigns and that is not good for republicans in 20123. >> chris: and obviously according to that prediction the 60 vote democratic super majority in the senate gone? >> gone. >> chris: kristol. >> cheers me up already. even better news. i think the iranian regime could fall this year. it lost the support of the public and lost the support of a lot of clerics who have decided that the doctrine are where the supreme leadership ruled is not consistent with

shia islam. the death that triggered the latest administrations have turned out against chomeni. the combination of the loss of popular legitimacy and the religion legitimacy could bring down the administration this year. >> chris: and would they be more amenable to the u.s. >> it would be a democratic regime. yes, they would be less determined to be hostile to the west. >> chris: why? >> those are grad times. i hope you are right. on the domestic front you have healthcare reform passing and then things like immigration reform and i think the result is a rise in right wing populous politics. not necessarily people going to the republican party but talk of a third-party getting serious in this country. people saying we want people who are going to respond to the kind of populous urge to say the government is too big, too much taxes and they will be

looking for candidates. i i think there will be a big change in candidates. >> chris: move to entertainment and our entertainment editor brit hume. >> i'm not looking forward to movies. the movies have one bad, very few good movies. the action remains on television. good television and crime drama to be seen. tv is where it is and movies continue to be where it isn't. >> and madman which we just saw is an exquisite show. my prediction is that jay leno at 10:00 p.m. is a goner. nbc's attempt to experiment to look for more cheap program and not scripted dramas. they moved him on the today show and put him in the 10:00 slot and the ratings have tanked since then. i think we will see the end of that show and the end of that experiment. >> two votes for tv dramas. >> donald the west lake great

comic crime novelist wins the nobel prize post humously for literature. it won't happen. the nobel prize committee does not have a sense of humor. they will give the nobel prize to another angst ridden analyst. >> you you can learn more by reading donald westlake's novels. >> i like kristol's prediction. that's very nice. >> it's not going to happen. >> on the issue of books, i think there will be a major shift that will be evans department to anybody walking down the street anywhere in the united states, book stores, because kendall, knock, the reader, the e readers outsold books and i think you will see more of this now take place in the country that people who are readers are buying books from amazon and downloading them on to the electronic devices.

fewer people in the airports with books. >> did you get one. >> my wife gave me a sony one a long time ago and i have been slow to put it to work. sports, britt? >> tiger woods will recover as a golfer. whether he can recover as a person i think is a very open question and it as tragic situation with him. i think he has lost his family. it is not clear whether he will be able to have a relationship with his children. but the tiger woods that emerges once the news value dies out of the scandal, the extent to which he can recover depends on his faith. he is said to be a buddhist. offers think that faith o the forgiveness given by the christian faith. my message would be tiger turn to the christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the word. >> look for congress to dive again into the professional sports drug testing controversy. the nfl wants the vikings to

suspend two players who have tested positive not for strict steroids but for a drug that masks steroids and the house energy and commerce committee, i predict will vote to say that the nhl should preempt minnesota's more lenient law and go ahead and us uss augusta players.usssuspend the >> i predict that tiger will come back and win the masters. he is still a good golfer despite the chaos and bad news about his personal life. >> juan? >> brett favre gets close to the super bowl this year but doesn't quite get there and as a result talk about whether he is coming back for another year and, yes, he will come back to the vikings. the redskins could use him. no such deal. i think he is back to the vikings. he is the oldest player in the nfl but he will be even older. see how it goes. >> chris: does he retire before

he comes back? he always retires. >> he retires, it is also a drama. we wouldn't have tv programs without him. >> chris: the economy? >> i don't think ifle be a full-blown recovery that will produce jobs with the current policies in place and my sense is that we cannot. it will be a very difficult. we will have tree mentos focus from the president -- tremendous focus from the president in terms of the discourse on jobs but i don't think it can bring enough to save the party this year. >> the biggest scandal of the year is going be the chinese economy. we hear reports they are growing at an 8-9% slip. a lot of key con mists think it is five to six percent and really that the government is putting money in the state owned enterprises and producing

all this stuff with no one to sell to. what that means for the u.s. economy is dumping a lot of chinese goods here and fewer chinese resources available to buy u.s. treasuries. >> bill kristol. >> bearish on the economy, too, i guess. i think we could be getting a stagflation. unemployment will stay high and rising public debt. rising tax rates. not a recipe for a strong economy. i think the country missed a chance to sensibly fix the economy. instead we bailed out the big banks and did nothing about the economy. >> the economy is going good guns. when it comes to employment it will not do so we will to quickly. i would say 8% unemployment by time of the mid terms which is not good for the democrats but what are you going to do, it is tough. if you are investing on wall street, go for them, you are going to win. >> chris: 8% by november?

that is very optimistic. thank you, panel. we will keep this on tape and embarrass you with it at various points. don't forget to check out the latest edition of panel plus where we continue the discussion of a the show ends and that is also the same address you can use to post your comments. we'll be right back. good news, my phoenix office... the meeting went great! they loved the presentation! judy, great job on the printing! 'm amanda. tom. james. nice job on the brochures and letterhead. louis, keep up the good work with our shipments. it's -- it's peter. great job, everybody! that's a closet. you know what, guys? take the afternoon off! we can't. that is why i hired you. world's proudest boss. [ male announcer ] we understand. you can never have too much help. fedex office.

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>> chris: as we end our first >> as we end our first show of the new year, we want to thank you all of you for allowing us into your homes this week, we know how important sundays are and we do our best to inform and yes, entertain you. here are the names of people who work so hard to put this program on the air. from all of us here, have a great new year and we'll see you next fox news sunday.

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